General Contracting Cost in Dubai
Compare general contracting quotations using a shared work schedule. Check quantities, specifications and exclusions before ranking the total contract prices.
Build a like-for-like quotation sheet
- 01
Use a shared work breakdown
List demolition, civil work, services, fit-out and specialist packages. For each line, state its drawing reference, specification, quantity and unit. Keep a lump sum where appropriate, but describe the work and completion condition it buys.
- 02
Record every commercial status
Mark each bidder’s line as included, excluded, provisional or a proposed alternative. An unpriced line is not automatically included. Request written clarification and add the independently priced missing package to the comparison where its scope is known.
- 03
Allocate interfaces once
Identify who supplies, installs, connects, tests and hands over each item. Check demolition against making-good, equipment supply against connection work and specialist installation against builder’s work so a responsibility is neither missing nor duplicated.
The comparison formula
Comparable total = stated contract price + priced missing work + agreed adjustments for specification differences − priced work outside the shared scope. Leave unresolved differences visible; an unverified allowance cannot make two bids precisely equivalent.
Worked arithmetic, using invented figures: Quote A is AED 120,000, with AED 6,000 disposal and AED 4,000 testing excluded. Quote B is AED 128,000 with both included. A’s reconciled total is 120,000 + 6,000 + 4,000 = AED 130,000. This demonstrates the method only and is neither a Dubai market price nor an 800 Master Renovations quotation.
Match the units before comparing rates
Confirm whether an area rate covers supply, preparation and installation. Compare the same measured surface and material build-up.
Record drawings, assumptions, inclusions and handover outputs so another lump sum covers the same work.
State the approval process, records and spending limit. Identify any minimum charge or mobilisation separately.
Agree how quantities and changes are valued
Ask whether quantities are fixed or subject to remeasurement, and which document governs a discrepancy. Keep provisional work separate from approved changes, with an agreed evidence and authorisation process. Record tax treatment, payment milestones and any retention consistently across bids.
RICS NRM provides references for cost planning and detailed measurement. A quotation should state its own measurement and contract basis; merely calling a schedule a BOQ does not establish the rules governing it.
Provisional amounts in bids
01How do I compare two different provisional allowances?+
Ask each bidder what quantity, selection or condition its allowance assumes. Use a common allowance for the comparison only when the adjustment basis is agreed, and retain the original bid figures in the record.